Waterside Marina, 757-625-3625, www.watersidemarina.com

Located in downtown Norfolk on the east side of the Elizabeth River just opposite Portsmouth this marina is just a slight bit south of ICW mile marker zero. It is next to the Waterside Festival Marketplace, Town Point Park and the Battleship Wisconsin and Nauticus exhibits. There are many excellent restaurants and stores nearby, but no fuel or supplies at the marina itself.
The marina is built within an enclosed area that includes some floating docks and a fixed face dock (along the Marketplace walkway) for larger boats. The entrance is a relatively narrow opening with a tight turn to port on the far east end of the marina. There is one internal fairway that is also narrow and requires close quarters maneuvering.
This stop is great for sight seeing and as a final jumping off place before heading south on the ICW to transit the nine bridges (at various heights with various opening schedules) and locks between Norfolk and the Albemarle & Chesapeake Canal. Conversely it’s a great end of the day stop going northbound before heading out to the Chesapeake Bay.
Raymond Kurlak

And a very good experience at Waterside:

Had a recent experience which Barb & I want you to know about. We were going to do the Dismal Swamp run from Elizabeth City to Norfolk for a few days stay at WaterSide Marina and had planned to stay at the Sheradon next door. First the weather got in the way which caused a days delay. New reservations were made with out any problem. Then an electrical problem in the tow vehicle caused us to call it all off. Were a couple of hours late calling the hotel ( they required 24 hours notice), Waterside said they were sorry we could not make it and were very gracious. The Hotel said we would be charged for two rooms. I made a couple of calls and got someone who understood our problem. NO late charges were applied. These two places will see us again in the future. Take care, regards
Reg & Barb Holden from Tarboro